John David Curlis
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology
John David Curlis studies the evolution of color and its effects on morphology, behavior, ecology, and physiology in reptiles and amphibians. For his dissertation work, Curlis took part in a large-scale, long-term field experiment in Panama, where he and his team translocated thousands of lizards to tiny islands in the Panama Canal in order to measure the evolutionary impacts of novel environments on lizard throat color and thermal physiology.
As a former nature guide in Costa Rica and Honduras, Curlis is also interested in using natural history observations as a means to generate new questions in evolutionary biology. Before joining the faculty at Hamilton, Curlis conducted post-doctoral research and served as a lecturer in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at the University of Michigan.
Recent Courses Taught
Physiology
Selected Publications
- KRS Hale, JD Curlis, GG Auteri, S Bishop, RLK French, LE Jones, KL Mills, BG Scholtens, M Simons, C Thompson, J Tourville, FS Valdovinos. 2024. A highly resolved network reveals the role of terrestrial herbivory in structuring aboveground food webs. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 379(1909): 20230180.
- HL Crowell, JD Curlis, H Weller, AR Davis Rabosky. 2024. Ecological drivers of ultraviolet colour evolution in snakes. Nature Communications, 15(5213): 1?9.
- AA Rosso, B Casement, AK Chung, JD Curlis, E Folfas, M Gallegos, LK Neel, DJ Nicholson, C Williams, WO McMillan, ML Logan, CL Cox. 2024. Plasticity of gene expression and thermal tolerance: Implications for climate change vulnerability in a tropical forest lizard. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology, 97(2): 81?96.
- RM Pirani, CF Arias, K Charles, AK Chung, JD Curlis, DJ Nicholson, M Vargas, CL Cox, WO McMillan, ML Logan. 2024. A high-quality genome for the slender anole (Anolis apletophallus), an emerging model for field-studies of tropical ecology and evolution. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 14(1): jkad248.
- DJ Nicholson, RJ Knell, E Folfas, LK Neel, Z Degon, M DuBois, X Ortiz-Ross, AK Chung, JD Curlis, TJ Thurman, WO McMillan, TWJ Garner, CL Cox, ML Logan. 2023. Island colonisation leads to rapid behavioural and morphological divergence in Anolis lizards. Evolutionary Ecology, 37(5): 779?795.
- DJ Nicholson, RJ Knell, RS McCrea, LK Neel, JD Curlis, CE Williams, AK Chung, WO McMillan, TWJ Garner, CL Cox, ML Logan. 2022. Climate anomalies and competition reduce establishment success during island colonization. Ecology and Evolution, 12(10): e9402.
- C Williams, JG Kueneman, DJ Nicholson, AA Rosso, E Folfas, B Casement, MA Gallegos-Koyner, LK Neel, JD Curlis, WO McMillan, CL Cox, ML Logan. 2022. Sustained drought, but not short-term warming, alters the gut microbiomes of wild Anolis lizards. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 88(19): e00530-22.
- JD Curlis, R Scott, E Evans, M Cawthorn, R Chandler, L McBrayer, J Roberts. 2022. Biodiversity between buildings: Results of a two-year vertebrate survey on a university campus. Urban Naturalist, 9(53): 1?38.
- JD Curlis, T Renney, AR Davis Rabosky, TY Moore. 2022. Batch-Mask: Automated image segmentation for organisms with limbless or non-standard body forms. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 62(4): 1111?1120.
- L Wilson, G Lonsdale, JD Curlis, EA Hunter, CL Cox. 2022. Predator-based selection and the impact of edge sympatry on components of coral snake mimicry. Evolutionary Ecology, 36(1): 135?149.
- JD Curlis, CL Cox, RM Cox. 2021. Sex-specific population differences in resting metabolism are associated with intraspecific variation in sexual size dimorphism of brown anoles. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 94(4): 205?214.
- LK Neel, ML Logan, DJ Nicholson, C Miller, AK Chung, I Maayan, Z Degon, M DuBois, JD Curlis, Q Taylor, K Keegan, WO McMillan, JB Losos, CL Cox. 2021. Habitat structure mediates vulnerability to climate change through its effects on thermoregulatory behavior. Biotropica, 53(4): 1121?1133.
- JD Curlis, AR Davis Rabosky, IA Holmes, TJ Renney, CL Cox. 2021. Genetic mechanisms and correlational selection structure trait variation in a coral snake mimic. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288(1947): 20210003.
- CL Cox, J Bowers, C Obialo, JD Curlis, JW Streicher. 2021. Spatial and temporal dynamics of exuberant color polymorphism in the southern cricket frog. Journal of Natural History, 54(35-36): 2249?2264.
- ML Logan, LK Neel, DJ Nicholson, AJ Stokes, CL Miller, AK Chung, JD Curlis, KM Keegan, AA Rosso, I Maayan, E Folfas, CE Williams, B Casement, MA Gallegos Koyner, DJ Padilla Perez, CH Falvey, SM Alexander, KL Charles, ZA Graham, WO McMillan, JB Losos, CL Cox. 2021. Sex-specific microhabitat use is associated with sex-biased thermal physiology in Anolis lizards. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(2): jeb235697.
- AA Rosso, DJ Nicholson, ML Logan, AK Chung, JD Curlis, ZM Degon, RJ Knell, TWJ Garner, WO McMillan, CL Cox. 2020. Sex-biased parasitism and expression of a sexual signal. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 131(4): 785?800.
- CL Cox, HO Tribble, S Richardson, AK Chung, JD Curlis, ML Logan. 2020. Thermal ecology and physiology of an elongate and semi-fossorial arthropod, the bark centipede. Journal of Thermal Biology, 94: 102755.
- CL Cox, S Alexander, B Casement, AK Chung, JD Curlis, Z Degon, M DuBois, C Falvey, Z Graham, E Folfas, M Gallegos, LK Neel, DJ Nicholson, DJ Padilla Per?z, X Ortiz-Ross, AA Rosso, Q Taylor, TJ Thurman, C Williams, WO McMillan, ML Logan. 2020. Ectoparasite extinction in simplified lizard assemblages during experimental island invasion. Biology Letters, 16(8): 20200474.
- JD Curlis, EC Fisher, WK Muhic, J Moy, M Garro-Cruz, JJ Montero-Ram?rez. 2020. A survey of the reptiles and amphibians at the University of Georgia Costa Rica field station in San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica. Check List, 16(6): 1433?1456.
Professional Affiliations
- Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
- Society for the Study of Evolution
- American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
- Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Appointed to the Faculty
2025Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Michigan
M.A., Georgia Southern University
B.A., University of Virginia
